


Captivated by Stardust

by SerStolas



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Inspired by folklore, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27323392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: After the war, former soldier and spy Cassian Andor accepts the invite of Lady Leia Organa, whose father he had served under during the war, to return with her to the ruins of her home town of Alderaan and Organa Manor to rebuild.  When he gets there, he finds himself in a land steeped in tales of Faerie, and as time goes on, finds himself drawn to the faerie woman Stardust, and embroiled in a plot that involves an Faerie Lord with a hatred of mortals that threatens both the local mortals and faeries aliveChapter 1 is a Moodboard and the original inspiration for a Tam-Lin-esque Rebelcaptain idea.  Chapter 2 begins the actual tale.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 24
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own star wars
> 
> Find me on tumblr @serstolas

_Everyone knew to avoid the stone ring on All Hallows Eve, not unless you wanted to be claimed by Faerie. Everyone in at Organa Manor, in the village, and the surrounding countryside knew that. He knew the stories of people who had vanished when wandering too close to the ring during the witching hour. Every decade or so you heard a story of someone who had vanished on All Hallows, taken by the Fae. Cassian highly suspected that many of those who vanished had used the opportunity to leave behind the sleepy little village and countryside. Kay certain believed so, claiming that this day in age, belief in Faerie was simply not rational. Lady Leia Organa, young though some might think her, firmly believed that the Fae were real, and always took care not to anger them_. 

_Perhaps Cassian should have paid more attention to Leia’s warnings. Instead, he found himself trapped within the stone ring, staring at his captor. She looked human, and he would have thought her so, had he not seen her ethereal eyes, those orbs flickering from blue to green and back again._

_“Is there a reason you chose to trespass here, tonight of all nights?” she asked in a low voice. “You would have been safe if you hadn’t crossed the threshold of the ring you know.”_

_He didn’t know how to answer that, didn’t know how to admit that for once in his life that he, an observant soldier who had served under General Draven and Lord Organa in the war, hadn’t been paying attention, and had wandered unawares into a stone circle._

_“What is your name?” he found himself asking instead._

_She gave him a smile, bittersweet and lovely. “You may call me Stardust."_

_He knew then it wasn’t her real name. A Faerie would never give you their real name._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When instinct drives Cassian beyond common sense to wander into a stone circle on All Hallows, he catches the attention of a faerie woman and finds himself pulled into quite a bit of local intrigue.

His dark gaze followed the line of the sun as it began to sink beyond the tree line, dusk and gloom beginning to creep across the hills surrounding Organa Manor and the local village. During this time of evening and this part of the year, many people were starting to stick closer to the village or the manor itself as the chill of autumn chased away the last of the harvest. There were tales about what went on after dark in the hills and forests beyond the manor and town that Cassian knew were older than the manor house of Organa Manor itself. 

Most people didn’t like to talk about magic or the fair folk that had inhabited the land along side the more human and mortal inhabitants of the village. They didn’t talk about the rumors that the young Lady Organa was obviously descended from the fey somewhere in her bloodline or the fact that she’d been adopted. Yet the people of Alderaan had adored their former Lord and Lady and now adored their young Lady…most of them at any rate. Cassian had heard of a few in the village and surrounding countryside who seemed to distrust the young Lady of Organa Manor, but he had a feeling that was more to do with her age than her supposed faerie blood.

Cassian didn’t care much personally for those who spoke ill of Lady Organa, as he’d served under her father and General Draven during the war, and she’d been the one who had invited him to return with her to Alderaan to help rebuild her home town that had been destroyed during the war. With his own home city of Fest far to the north in ruins as a result of a war that had taken far too many causalities, both civilian and military, he’d been glad to accept her offer and get a new start. 

During the war, many people had fled Alderaan in the attack that had destroyed the city and ended up killing Lord Organa. Some didn’t want to return to the area where so many of their kindred had died, but Lady Leia Organa remained stubborn, insisting not only in restoring the town itself, but the manor house that she had grown up in. Somehow Leia had been persuasive enough to convince some to return to the area, and a village had since sprung up, not as large as the town of Alderaan had once been, but large enough, Cassian supposed.  
As Cassian continued down the dusty road, his eyes still fixed on the growing gloom, he turned over in his mind the reasons that most of the inhabitants of the village, both new and old, chose to stick so close to the village itself after dark, and why they refused to speak much of magic of the fair folk.

During the war, there had been persistent rumors that one reason the self-dubbed Emperor had chosen to lay waste to Alderaan had been the area’s connection to the fair folk. The Emperor had his own magic, some had claimed, that rivaled that of Faerie, and he’d seen Faerie, and those who worked with Faerie as a direct threat to his power. Others claimed that the Emperor was part fae himself, and that a rival faction that refused to fall under his rule had sheltered in Alderaan. 

Cassian didn’t know which was true, and at this point, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. There were many tales of the worlds of mortal and faerie mixing, and few enough of them had happy endings. 

If Cassian were a wiser man, he would be walking back towards the village right now and the small house that he currently shared with his friend Kay. He’d look at the darkened sky and hurry back to the warmth, light, and relative safety of home. For whatever reason, though, he was following a pull the stone circle some ways from the village that he’d felt for the past few weeks. 

Everyone knew to avoid the stone ring on All Hallows Eve, not unless you wanted to be claimed by Faerie. Everyone in at Organa Manor, in the village, and the surrounding countryside knew that. He knew the stories of people who had vanished when wandering too close to the ring during the witching hour. Every decade or so you heard a story of someone who had vanished on All Hallows, taken by the Fae. Cassian highly suspected that many of those who vanished had used the opportunity to leave behind the sleepy little village and countryside. Kay certain believed so, claiming that this day in age, belief in Faerie was simply not rational. Leia Organa, young though some might think her, firmly believed that the Fae were real, and always took care not to anger them. 

His steps lead him to the stone circle, stones taller than he set carefully in a ring at the top of a hill. He walked around the circle once, noting the circle was about five meters in diameter, certainly small enough for a picnic if someone were foolish enough to want to have a meal in a place supposedly inhabited by faeries.  
Cassian circled it a second time, considering the odd draw he felt pulling him towards the center of the circle. He was a soldier and spy by trade, a man who did not let himself get pulled into traps easily, so while he felt drawn into the circle, common sense told him he to back away from it and do the sane thing and walk back to the village, shut his door tight against the night, and forget about all of this insanity. 

He swore he saw the air in between the circles shimmer as he circled the stone ring a third time. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising. His instincts had kept him alive during the war in incredibly dangerous situations and surrounded by enemy combatants. Those same instincts were telling him to step into that circle. He knew this had to be come kind of trap, but his instincts still pushed him forward. 

Wonder what trouble he was going to get himself into Cassian stepped inside the ring.

The air between the stones shimmered as he stepped through. His eyes narrowed and he tried to step back, only to come up against a solid barrier. 

Now he could see someone standing across the circle from him, a small woman with dark hair and eerie glowing eyes.

Perhaps Cassian should have paid more attention to Leia’s warnings. Instead, he found himself trapped within the stone ring, staring at his captor. She looked human, and he would have thought her so, had he not seen her ethereal eyes, those orbs flickering from blue to green and back again. 

“Is there a reason you chose to trespass here, tonight of all nights?” she asked in a low voice. “You would have been safe if you hadn’t crossed the threshold of the ring you know.”

He didn’t know how to answer that, didn’t know how to admit that he, an observant soldier who had served under General Draven and Lord Organa in the war, had followed an instinct against all common sense, and walked deliberately out of town and into a stone circle on All Hallows Eve. 

“What is your name?” he found himself asking instead.

She gave him a smile, bittersweet and lovely. “You may call me Stardust."

He knew it wasn’t her real name. A Faerie would never give you their real name. The bittersweet quality to her smile made him wonder at the source of her name. 

She gazed at him, her eyes narrowing as she considered her captive. “And what shall I call you?”

For all that the people around Organa Manor didn’t talk about the fair folk beyond the village or manage, Leia, he thought, was right, and faeries were very real.

“You can call me Jareth,” Cassian said, replying in kind. The tales said a faerie would never give you their real name, because that gave you power over them. Those same tales also warned about giving your name to a faerie. He thought perhaps a name he had used during the war when he’d sometimes gone undercover would do well enough.

“Well, Jareth, you appear to be my guest for the evening,” Stardust told him. “And so, I ask again, why possessed you to walk into a faerie ring on All Hallows?”

How much could one safely tell a faerie, he thought, how much did he want to tell her? “I was pulled here,” he said after ruminating on it for a few minutes.

Stardust cocked her head to one side, and the something, perhaps like relief, flickered over her expression before it was gone. Her eyes flickered from him to the circle around him, measuring, then she walked across the circle to him, pausing an arm’s length away. Her voice was thoughtful as she spoke. “Perhaps you will do then.”

Cassian lifted an eyebrow at that.

“Have you felt the unease in the area, since your Lady Organa returned to start rebuilding Alderaan?” Stardust asked. Her voice was low, not meant to carry beyond the stone circle they stood within.

He frowned at that, her words drawing up idle observations he’d made over the past year since coming to Organa manor, since parts of the original town of Alderann had been reclaimed and repurposed into the village that now stood. 

“The feeling that someone is always watching, and that someone is not quite happy?” Stardust pressed.

“Yes,” Cassian said slowly. “Like someone isn’t happy that the manor is being rebuilt, and that people are settling in the area again.” He realized it was true as he said the words. There’d been odd instances of building supplies going missing or getting soiled or ruined to the point they couldn’t be used this year. No one had disappeared, but the odd instances had brought up stories like then ones he’d heard of the disappearances on All Hallows and other nights of the year, when the “veil” between this world and Faerie were supposedly the weakest. 

She nodded seriously. “Centuries ago, the Organa family made a pact with some of the Fair Folk in the area. That pact was never broken or interrupted, not until the rise of the Emperor. The rise of the Emperor coincided with unrest among the fair folk. The Faerie Lord that came to rule over the part of Faerie that overlays this part of your world does not like mortals, and he allied with your Emperor.”

“But the Emperor is dead now,” Cassian frowned.

“He is gone at least,” Stardust shrugged. “But the Faerie Lord is still here.”

“And he doesn’t want humans resettling here.” Cassian made it a statement. His eyes narrowed. “Why would you tell me this? You’re a faerie yourself, why would you give a mortal this information.”

“Because not all the fair folk who live in these lands like the Lord, though many have not been able to say so openly. And because now, the actual Faerie Lady who should rule over this land has finally returned and has established herself to a point that she might be able to be a true threat against him,” Stardust informed him seriously. “And of those that I and my allies have seen, you are the closest to her that might actually listen.”

Cassian felt himself go cold. “Organa….you’re talking about Lady Organa.”

Stardust looked at him with something like sympathy. “Yes.”

“But she is a mortal woman and has enough trouble rebuilding the home she grew up in and taking care of her people,” Cassian frowned. “What interest would she have in fighting a faerie lord, after she’s already lost her father and is trying to rebuild from one war, why would she want to get involved in another?”

“Because the Lady Organa believes in the safety of her people,” Stardust said firmly. “And the longer that the Faerie Lord has to plot, the longer he has to try and push people away, the more dangerous it will become.”

“We’re mortal though, a mere blip in his lifespan,” Cassian argued.

“One mortal is, but many? And if they settle? Mortals may not live long, but if they reestablish themselves then they will very much be a thorn in his side,” Stardust replied firmly. She shook her head. “I cannot keep you here much longer without attracting the attention of his lackeys. But speak to her, Jareth. Speak to your Lady. I think you will find she is far more familiar with these happenings and possibilities than you think.”

The air between the stone circles shimmered, and Cassian found himself pushed by an unseen force beyond the circle. When he regained his footing and looked up, Stardust was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian goes to have a talk with Leia, and finds out the situation is just as complicated or more so than Stardust indicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars
> 
> find me on tumblr @serstolas

Cassian made it home unscathed once he’d been released from the stone ring, but while he was physically safe, his mind was a whirlwind of questions. The faerie woman who had trapped him (though how much could he say he’d been trapped when he walked willingly into that blasted circle), Stardust, had confirmed that the faint unease and feeling of being watched he’d felt since coming to the village and Organa Manor were not just his overactive imagination. It reminded him of observations others in the village and at the manor had made over the past several months, and all of the odd “accidents” and “mishaps” that had occurred. 

He might be called crazy to trust a faerie, but his instincts told him he could trust Stardust’s words from the night before, and her insistence that he talk to Leia about the situation had him thinking over all those rumors about Leia’s bloodline. He knew Leia had been adopted, and that lead to a lot of possibilities regarding her heritage. 

It had also come out, near the end of the war, that she hadn’t been her birth parents’ only child. Leia’s twin brother turned out to be a wizard, one trained by the old wizard Ben Kenobi himself. Luke Skywalker, as Leia’s brother was called, seemed to be a fairly proficient with magic the few times that Cassian had met the man, both during the war and the two times that Luke had come to visit Leia since she’d settled at Organa Manor. Most humans who could work some kind of magic were known to have some kind of tie to the Fair Folk, either being of faerie blood themselves, or having been granted some kind of power as a part of a pact with the fae. 

Cassian now highly suspected the former when it came to Luke Skywalker. It wasn’t a bad thing, Luke and Leia potentially being descended from fae, but it certainly put some things into perspective, and could make the local situation more interesting since there was evidently a Faerie Lord who wanted to drive away all the mortals now calling Organa Manor and the village their home.

He spent the walk home and the rest of the evening ruminating over those questions, sleeping no more than a few hours before he rose early to walk to Organa Manor and request an audience with Leia. 

While it was only an hour passed dawn when he reached the manor, Leia’s steward, Cecil Threepo, was already up and about and greeted him politely.

“How can I assist you, Master Andor?” Cecil inquired when Cassian appeared at the manor door. 

“Is Lady Organa in and available?” Cassian asked. “There’s an important matter I need to discuss with her, without an audience.”

“She and Master Solo are breaking their fast now,” Cecil advised him. “If you will follow me, I do not believe they would mind if you joined them.

Cassian nodded his agreement and followed Cecil through the main hall and a series of corridors to the dining room where they found Leia and her husband, the former general Han Solo, sitting at one end of a large dining table with a spread of various breakfast foods and a pot of hot tea. 

“Master Andor to speak with you,” Cecil announced. 

“Thank you, Cecil,” Leia replied as she turned her dark eyes to regard Cassian. “Why don’t you join us Cassian? I sense there’s something you wish to discuss?” As she spoke, Han nodded his own greeting and agreement with Leia’s assessment of Cassian’s reason for being here so early in the morning. 

As Cecil saw himself out, Cassian took a seat across from Leia at the table. “Thank you, Leia,” he replied. “And you are perceptive, as always.” 

Leia hummed and poured Cassian a cup of tea, the teacup floating calmly through the air after she’d poured it and landing on a saucer at Cassian’s elbow. Cassian stared at the teacup a long moment before he added minimal cream and sugar to it. Leia had been doing that more lately, he recollected, using magical abilities that she hadn’t displayed when he’d first met her years ago. He’d noticed her doing small things near the end of the war, after she’d met her brother Luke. He wondered if Luke had been training her at all.

“Yes?” Leia asked as she noted him staring at the teacup and raised one fine dark brow.

“That, actually, is a good starting point,” Cassian finally said, nodding at the teacup. He let out a breath, debating how to word this. “So, I may have done something last night that most people consider foolish, but my instincts told me was a good idea.”

“You didn’t go jumping hedgerows or dancing in faerie circles, did you?” Han inquired. “You’re not usually the one to take risks unless its on the battlefield or for a mission. You’re too steady for that.”

Leia snorted at Han’s words. “Father told me that Cassian here used to get into all sorts of interesting situations during the war.”

“Actually, going into a faerie circle isn’t far from the truth,” Cassian admitted. 

Leia’s eyes went wide a moment and she gestured for him to continue, while Han raised both eyebrows at the former spy. 

“Last night not long before sunset I felt my instincts pulling me west,” he told the couple after a fortifying sip of tea. “Not the best idea on All Hallows, I know, but there it is. I ended up at a stone ring about three kilometers from the village. I circled it a few times but felt a pull to go inside, so I did.” His lips twisted wryly. “And there was a faerie woman waiting inside for me. She told me that she’d summoned me.”

Leia frowned as she buttered toast. “That is rather specific, maybe a little suspect, and possibly dangerous. She said she had called to you personally?”

“Aye, she wanted to warn me,” Cassian replied. He hesitated for a moment, remembering Stardust’s words on the destruction of Alderaan. “She said that the Emperor had been in league with the Faerie Lord that rules over the part of Faerie that overlays our area, and that the local Faerie Lord hated humans, and as a part of that alliance, Alderaan was destroyed. She didn’t go into much more detail as to exactly what they exchanged as a part of the alliance though.”

Leia had gone absolutely still, blanching at the information Cassian had just imparted to her and Han, and Han’s mouth set into a thin line. Leia took one breath, then two, and said curtly, “Continue please. I have a feeling she had more to say than to speak of just the past destruction of Alderaan.”

“Yes,” Cassian replied quietly. “She said that while the Emperor is gone, the Faerie Lord in this area remains, and he still hates mortals. He and his minions have been watching us for the past year, trying to scare us away. All those accidents and mishaps? She said he or his people caused them.”

“It’s uncommon that one faerie might warn a mortal about another,” Han mused. “Did she have any suggestions on how to deal with this Faerie Lord?”

Cassian nodded. “She said that there was a schism among the local fae.” He glanced at Leia, “She also said that the local Faerie Lady who should rule over this area was now in a position where she might be able to take power from him…and she directed me to talk to you by name, Leia.”

Han gave Cassian a measuring look, then glanced at Leia, his eyes seeming to ask a question.

Leia stared straight ahead for several moments, and Cassian wavered on whether he should break the silence.

“Technically,” Leia said at last, “This faerie woman you talked to isn’t wrong.”

Cassian’s brows shot up at that. 

“What I am about to tell you remains between us unless I give you leave otherwise,” Leia told him resolutely. 

“I understand, and I agree,” Cassian replied, sensing she wouldn’t tell him anything else until he agreed aloud.

“My father was not human,” Leia told him. She mechanically fixed herself another cup of tea as she spoke. “You know that I was adopted by Bail and Breha Organa. They didn’t find me; I was given to them as a baby by Ben Kenobi. He hid my brother and I from our father.” She took a shuttering breath. “Lord Vader was my biological father.”

Cassian barely managed to keep the gasp of horror from escaping. Lord Vader had been the Emperor’s right hand, and his legacy as a brutal dispenser of the Emperor’s will was well known over the past almost two decades. 

Leia gave Cassian a tight smile. “That’s sort of how I feel about it. The important part is, Lord Vader was a faerie himself, or at least part fae, we’re not entirely sure. The Emperor was truly fae, an exiled Faerie Lord, actually. That’s one reason he was so powerful and able to dominate so many mortals. From what Ben’s…spirit told Luke, our father was the rightful Faerie Lord of this area, but he was raised among humans and chose to serve the Emperor. Since Lord Vader’s mother was killed when he was a child, there was a vacuum in power among the fae here. My guess is this Faerie Lord that was mentioned by the faerie woman you spoke to rose to power in that vacuum.”

Cassian stared at her in something close to shock. “If you know that you would be the local Faerie Lady then, why are you still here at Organa Manor?” he finally asked.

“I was raised human, Cassian,” Leia reminded him. “And the Organas and their people are more my people than the fae are.” She grimaced. “But if the Faerie Lord wants to drive our people away, then, as Lady Organa, I have a responsibility to protect them.”

Han reached over and took Leia’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly in his own. “You know I’ll support whatever you do.”

Cassian slumped in his chair, having a time processing all of this, that his friend and Lady was a Faerie and evidently knew it, and knew that she technically could rule over the fae and the mortals here, but had not approached the fae as she didn’t actually have any connection to them over than a birthright.

“So, what do we do?” Cassian asked.

“What as the name that the faerie woman gave you, and what name did you give her?” Leia asked in kind.

He blinked. “She told me to call her Stardust. I told her to call me Jareth.”

“Well, at least you were careful there,” Leia sighed. “And it doesn’t sound like you made any promises at least.” She stared down at her teacup then back at him. “If you were anyone else, Cassian, I’d have said what you told me about your….adventure last night was insane, but I know you, and both my father and Draven said that your instincts were always scarily accurate.”  
She paused and looked around the room, gaze fliting from the window to Han and Cassian, then back again. “The first thing I think I need to do is summon my brother here. I’m part fae, but so is he, and through our father I think we would both have equal “claim” to the part of Faerie that overlays the village and Organa Manor. My brother has delved far more into studying our heritage, and our potential abilities, than I have. Your Stardust is right though, since the Faerie Lord wants to drive us away, we have to respond, somehow.” Leia finally pulled her gaze back to Cassian and her eyes were measuring. “Do you think you could find her away?”

Cassian frowned a moment. “I think if I returned to the circle, she might return, if it was the right time of…night?”

“Huh,” Han remarked. “Makes me wonder if you’ve got perhaps a bit of gift yourself.”

“It’s possible,” Leia mused. “The Fae weren’t as active in Fest as they are here, but there might be either some innate talent or faerie blood a few generations back.” She waved the train of thought aside. “Regardless, Stardust has evidently chosen you as our Ambassador, Cassian, so once Luke is here, I believe we will need to arrange a secret meeting with this Stardust. I have a feeling neither she nor I want to draw too much attention from the current Faerie Lord.”

Cassian looked vague incredulous at all of this. “I know I possibly foolishly followed my instincts last night, but how are you taking this at such face value?”

“Do you feel suspicious at all of this Stardust’s motives?” Leia asked him pointedly.

Cassian paused. Every part of his common sense told him he should be completely wary and suspicious of the fae woman and this entire situation, but after his conversation with her last night, the urgency and genuine concern he’d read in Stardust’s manor and voice, and Leia’s revelations today…

“I should,” Cassian considered slowly. “All the tales say that it is completely foolish and dangerous to trust fae, but my instinct is telling me that I need to trust her on this, that whatever danger this Faerie Lord possesses to us, we need to take care of it. If she’d just wanted to toy with me, I think she would have kept me trapped in that stone ring and then dragged me back to Faerie with her, but she let me go, and specifically bade me to speak to you.”

“There’s your answer then,” Leia replied. “I’ll summon Luke, and once I’ve talked with him, we will see about arranging a meeting. Until then, we keep our eyes open, and you tell me if you have any more encounters with her or any other fae, understood.”

“Yes Leia,” Cassian said, thinking he must have lost his mind through all of this, but for the life of him couldn’t find a reason to disagree with Leia’s assessment or Stardust’s warning.

Han gave Cassian a sympathetic look and passed him a plate of bacon. “Eat,” he told the former spy. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you get used to dealing with Leia and all the odd happenings that come with being around fae eventually.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stardust has an unpleasant but expected encounter with the Faerie Lord, and then goes to meet a friend to discuss her meeting with Cassian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @serstolas

Mortals, Stardust thought, were lucky in that most of them couldn’t see the world beyond their own, what lay beyond the veil between them and Faerie. After she pushed the human, Jareth he’d called himself, though she knew as well as he did that it wasn’t his real name, she vanished behind the veil again, watching him stare at the stone ring before he began walking back the way he’d come towards the village.

Of all the humans in the village and at the Manor, while she thought there were a number that might would truly understand the gravity of the current situation, even fewer would be open minded enough to accept just how involved the fae were in the matter. From his general manner, the mortal Jareth appeared to believe her. She wondered if he remembered that fae could not actually lie. They could twist the truth, and they could omit things, but she would not actually have been able to lie to him.

Lady Organa might be able to lie, depending on how strong her fae blood was versus her human blood, but Stardust, for all her own mortal parent, had been in Faerie too long to be able to truly lie.

That was one thing that made the game she played now so dangerous. There was only so much that she and the others could hide from Lord Krennic, and the success of their rebellion hinged just on how well they could bend the truth to hide their dealings from him.

Being of Faerie, Stardust did not have the transportation limitations that Jareth had in returning home. She simply moved through Faerie, heading to exactly where she wanted to be within minutes rather than the longer walk that the mortal had ahead of him. She needed to talk to Rook and tell him of her encounter with the mortal within the stone ring, but she needed to do so somewhere that Lord Krennic would not overhear them. 

The halls where Krennic held court were somewhat quiet this time of evening, many of the fae who resided here and in the surrounding area off doing their own thing. Stardust wished to be anywhere else, but after spending a certain amount of time in the mortal realm, if Krennic had sensed it at all or if one of his spies had seen, she needed to make herself conspicuous here for a little bit before she went to find Rook. 

She didn’t have to wait long as she walked the halls towards one of the gardens that grew a variety of...interesting and often deadly plants that Krennic insisted on having in his Halls. While Faerie existed on another plane, it had its own celestial bodies that mimicked those of the mortal world, but even then, with enough magic, one did not need actual sun to grow plants inside. She’d only just started walking the path that twisted around the garden, her eyes on a Belladona plants when she heard Krennic’s voice mere two meters from her.  
“A sprite told me you were entertaining yourself this All Hallows,” Krennic’s voice slithered unpleasantly along her spine. He’d been watching her a bit more of late than before, another reason why she had to be careful of this game she played. A mortal might find it an insult to call something that could mean life and death a game, but the fae had an entirely difference sense of what was appropriate and what wasn’t.

Stardust forced a polite smile to her lips as she turned to regard the Faerie Lord, dressed all in white silk as he was apt to do. Since time passed so differently here, Stardust knew for a fact that Krennic was at least a few centuries old, though if he’d been mortal, she would have pegged him for a man in his early 50s. She sometimes wondered why he chose that guise, specifically, when he could have easily made himself look eternally young as many fae seemed apt to do. Krennic had his own reasons for many things.

“Observing the mortals,” she replied in a light tone. “Their way of things is so different from ours; it sometimes brings me amusement to watch how they do things.”

She twisted the truth here. She did sometimes find watching mortals amusing, how some of them rushed about while others took their time, but this particular eve she had not been observing, or in her case, talking, for amusement. Krennic, she hoped, would never know the difference.

Krennic considered her for a moment before giving an indulgent smile. “Indeed, they can be.” His expression changed to a slight frown then. “But never doubt the danger that they possess to us. You know what happened to Palpatine when he decided to mettle in mortal affairs. Better than they want to avoid us.”

She knew Krennic wouldn’t admit aloud right now that he was deliberately trying to drive the mortals away, he didn’t have to, everyone in the Halls knew what he wanted to do. Drive them away or kill them, whichever was easiest for him. 

How she hated him.

“And you remember what happened to your mother, when she got involved with humans,” Krennic continued, as if he hadn’t been the one who had ordered her mother’s death, supposedly because Lyra’s relationship with the human Galen Erso had posed too much of a threat to the local fae. Stardust could sense the poison behind his words. He had closed the distance between them as he spoke, and with his face mere centimeters from hers now, he said in a low tone, “You do remember what happened to Galen, of course. Best not to get involved with the mortals, my dear Jyn.”

Jyn Erso, the mortal name that her father and mother had given her, their half fae daughter. Krennic liked to use her name as a weapon against her. When she’d been younger, after her mother’s death, after Krennic had imprisoned her father in earth, he’d used it as a weapon against her.

She merely gave a nod of understanding to him though, letting her eyes go a little wide at Krennic’s implied warning to her. Let him think that his words still inspired fear in her. Krennic liked to think himself a generous Lord, because he’d taken guardianship of the young half fae daughter of Lady Lyra and the mortal Galen Erso. Stardust…Jyn, knew the truth though, of growing up in a gilded cage.

For now, she had to give the illusion of still being under his thumb. For all that they could not speak a lie, fae could and did employ illusion to their advantage, and it was illusion that would keep her out of danger and help her and her allies pull of Krennic’s downfall.

“Very good. Enjoy the gardens, my dear,” Krennic smiled toothily at her then before he turned with a grand flourish of that white cape he seemed to love so much and exited the room containing the garden. 

Jyn completed her circuit of the garden, keeping her thoughts to herself before she slipped away and slipped quietly out of the Faerie Lord’s Halls all together, heading towards the trees and the wilder parts of Faerie. Only after she was under the cover of the forest did she let her guard drop just a bit, following a familiar path towards the clearing she knew that Rook was likely to be.

Rook, another fae that Krennic at least seemed convinced was under his thumb. The man had been Galen Erso’s assistant when Galen and Lyra had first met. Jyn’s fingers clenched into fists as she walked the forest paths at that thought.

When she’d been a mere child by both mortal and fae standards, when her mother had still been alive and her father not trapped in stone and crystal, Galen Erso had actually worked for Krennic as a smith. The fae typically could not handle cold iron, and Lord Krennic was no different, but many had a desire for other metals, metals that Galen Erso had been skilled at working with. When Lyra had first fallen in love with her mortal, Galen, Krennic had only recently taken over the rule of this part of Faerie. The original Faerie Lady, Lady Shmi, had been killed, supposedly at the hands of mortals, and her son, Lord Anakin, enraged, had abandoned his post as Faerie Lord and gone searching for her killers. Eventually he had completely abandoned Faerie, as the story said because of the Faerie King and Queen’s lack of activity at his mother’s death and thrown his lot in with the exiled Lord Palpatine.

While Lord Palpatine and Lord Anakin, now Vader, had terrorized the mortal world for years, Lord Krennic had solidified his power here, slowly beguiling Lyra’s mortal lover into making weapons for him. Eventually, though, Lyra and Galen had discovered that those weapons were being sent to Lord Palpatine to terrorize the mortal world, something Lyra, who loved a mortal, and Galen, a mortal himself, could not abide. They’d confronted Krennic. Jyn had still been a child when Krennic had her mother killed for her defiance and had imprisoned her father, encasing him in crystal and earth as its own form of punishment, but preserving his “tool” should he ever find the need to use Galen again.

She heard the trees whispering around her and knew that she was almost to the grove where Rook waited for her. Rook was older than she, her mortal father’s mortal apprentice who had found himself trapped in Faerie when her father had been imprisoned. Krennic had kept Rook here out of amusement, and ordered the man trained as a messenger. 

Over a decade in Faerie, using as much magic as he had gained in his stay here, had altered Rook, and while he wasn’t half fae as she was, he was certainly no longer just “mortal.”  
Rook had learned his own tricks and magic in his time in Faerie. As Jyn stepped into the clearing, she felt a comforting shield settle around them, blocking out others from being able to observe them. 

“That was chancy,” were the first words out of Rook’s mouth when he appeared beside her. He was several inches taller than she, with dark hair and eyes and an almost permanent worried look to his gaze. He opened his arms and Jyn gladly let herself be swept up in his embrace. 

Jyn viewed Rook as the closet thing she had to family now, since he’d worked for her Father and had known Galen as well as she, an older brother even though they weren’t related by blood. She knew his real mortal name, Bodhi, but like her, he never really used it among the fae. Everyone but Krennic called her Stardust, and everyone but her called him “Rook.”

“My meeting with the mortal, you mean?”

He nodded, looking at her curly dark hair. “Yes. You’re lucky that Krennic bought your half-truths and your twists.”

“My cover lies in the fact that Krennic thinks I fear what he may do,” Jyn replied. “And that as a result I am content to remain his gilded pet. I hate it, but it is necessary. Krennic threatens both us and the mortals, and my father and mother would never have approved of us abandoning them to Krennic’s evils.”

Rook sighed and stepped back. “True enough. So how did the meeting with the mortal go, and what are you calling him for now?”

“He used the name Jareth,” she reported. “And I believe he took me seriously enough and will go back to talk to his Lady Organa. We will have to watch…more you will have to watch because Krennic does not watch you as closely as me, for his return. I have a feeling he will facilitate a meeting between us and Lady Organa.”

“And then, we must convince her to help us.” Rook sighed. “I know we will have a few of the fae to help us, but many are too apathetic, or too afraid perhaps, to oppose Krennic.”  
Jyn nodded grimly. “He did manage to get rid of most of the powerful fae in the area who could have opposed him while Palpatine and Vader were terrorizing the mortal world. I sometimes wonder why Palpatine didn’t try harder to attack more of Faerie.”

She thought about Saw as she spoke, and Bodhi saw the flicker of sadness in her eyes and put a hand on her shoulder. Saw had been one of those who had fought against Krennic’s control of the local court for years before Krennic had finally discovered Saw’s attempted revolution and had the not-quite-mortal killed. 

Another reason to hate Krennic, she thought. 

Bodhi grimaced. “You and I both know the Halls Palpatine hit and the areas he hit were outlying ones, ones out of the way enough that the King and Queen wouldn’t pay much attention. But Palpatine wasn’t mortal. He was just biding his time, setting himself up in enough places in the mortal realm that eventually he could have invaded Faerie at multiple points. We got lucky when Lord Vader’s son killed him. Though I worry there may still be lingering effects and parts of Palpatine’s magic out in the mortal realm.”

Jyn’s lips formed a thin line at the possibility. “Maybe,” she said at last,” but for now, not our main concern. “We must get Lord Vader’s children on board with defeating Krennic. They have enough power to do so, since the remaining fae here do not. It isn’t a question of if, it is a question of how. And when Jareth comes back, I need you to arrange some safe place where we will be able to meet with Lord Vader’s children. You and I can use this place, but I do not want to use it too much and lose one of our possible safe havens.”

“I’ll find something I can shield enough,” Bodhi replied. His lips curled into a faint smile. “Lord Krennic underestimates me. He always has.”

“And that we use to our advantage,” Jyn agreed, meeting his gaze.

One way or another, they would convince Lord Vader’s children that Krennic must be dealt with, and one way or another, they would free their home and their lives of the Faerie Lord, once and for all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian returns home and finds that his friend Kay has been hiding something from him, something that might affect the situation that Organa Manor finds itself in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars
> 
> Find me on tumblr @serstolas

Kay hadn’t said a word when his housemate and friend had returned home in the wee hours of the morning after All Hallows Eve, eyes wide and expression troubled. He knew that something had happened to Cassian the night before, and he had his own theories of what might be involved, but instead of asking, he’d merely made sure Cassian had a glass of water and went to bed for at least an hour or two of sleep before he went rushing off to Organa Manor as he insisted he must do.

Kay could be patient. He’d spent most of his life being patient, watching and observing. When Cassian had convinced Kay to join the Rebellion during the war, it had taken only a quick but careful consideration of his circumstances and the moral quandary Kay had found himself in serving Palaptine’s army as a messenger and observer. Being given the opportunity to jump sides and serve those who sought to overthrow Palaptine after Kay had become aware of the true evil of the man had been a relief.

Cassian thought Kay’s decision to join him as a strategist for the Rebellion had been one based primarily on morals, but Kay’s true reasons went far deeper than that. In the almost decade now that Kay had known Cassian Andor, he’d told the man a great deal about his dealings with Palpatine’s forces during the war and how he’d been essentially conscripted into the Emperor’s service. In some ways, he’d latched into Cassian because Cassian was perhaps as close of a friend and as close to family as Kay had had in a very long time.  
Longer than Cassian suspected. 

Cassian Andor had just recently turned 31, and he assumed Kay was of a similar age. They certainly looked to be around the same age, but there was a particular truth about various members of the Emperor’s forces that Cassian hadn’t been entirely aware of, and Kay had kept it that way until recently.

Now…Kay frowned as he turned it all over in his mind. He’d thought he’d left that portion of his life behind when he’d essentially gone into exile by joining Cassian and the Rebellion, and in truth he’d let his senses dull over the past few years, living among so many mortals, but like Cassian, he hadn’t be unaware of the mishappens and accidents had had occurred recently.  
He knew Cassian would not be pleased with what Kay had hidden from him, though Kay had at the time considered by hiding the truth of his nature, it protected both of them. Now he considered if it may have just put them more at risk.

Kay was in the kitchen over a sink of dishes when Cassian returned from his meeting with Lady Organa, attempting to concentrate on the very mortal task of cleaning the dishes rather than the long delayed discussion he was about to have with Cassian.

“Did your visit with Lady Organa go well?” Kay asked conversationally as Cassian entered through their front door. 

“It was certainly interesting,” Cassian replied, his expression faintly distracted. “There’s a few things I’ll need to investigate, in relation to the accidents and things disappearing of the past several months.”

Kay set the cup he had just rinsed carefully down on the counter over a towel to dry and turned to look at Cassian. There were a few different ways that he could address the elephant in the room that Cassian probably had no idea Kay knew about, only about half of them diplomatic. Finally, Kay said, “About the fact that the Fae have been messing with the village since it was reestablished?”

Cassian went rigid for a moment, then his eyes narrowed, and he watched Kay almost warily. “So, you know about the fae?”

“I regret the fact that I did not become more aware of their presence until recently,” Kay replied blandly. “I think we both have a great deal to discuss. I will preface it all by saying that since I left the employ of the Empire, there are certain portions of my senses that have been dulled by being…away for so long.”

Cassian gave the man he considered his best friend a long look, then gestured for Kay to take a seat at the table in their kitchen-living area. Kay complied as Cassian took the chair across from him. “Alright, Kay, explain,” Cassian told him. “Of what you mean by ‘away’ for so long, and how you know about the fae. I thought you didn’t believe in them.”

Kay’s lips pressed together. “The first thing that I must tell you, my friend, is that I am not human. That does not change the fact that I am your friend and that I would call you the closest thing that I have had to family in a long time, though it may be difficult or painful for you to understand, but there are reasons I’ve kept the secrets that I have.”

Cassian’s gaze dimmed just a little, but he didn’t look angry, more just resigned, and he nodded for Kay to continue.

“I was born Fae. Specifically, a type called the cait-sith. I did not lie when I said that I was conscripted into Palpatine’s service. Palpatine was a faerie lord, one sent into exile by the King and Queen of Faerie for his actions against them. Some believed his actions would have warranted death, but the King and Queen of Faerie felt he perhaps had too strong a following at the time to just outright kill them, so they exiled him to the mortal realms, where he would be cut off from at least some of his power. The longer he remained in the mortal realms without returning to Faerie, the less powerful he would become. I don’t think the King and Queen really thought about what he might do in the mortal realms, either that or they might not care, it’s hard to tell with fae that high up in the court.”

“Were you exiled with him, or?” Cassian asked carefully.

“I was not exiled for my own actions, more the lord I served chose to follow Palpatine, and because of his power over me, I had no choice but to follow them to the mortal realms,” Kay grimaced. “I was, as I said, conscripted into service. The thing about fae being cut off from their power when exiled to the portal realms? Lesser fae lose their connection to faerie faster than a faerie lord would. I might still live longer than a mortal would, now, but most of my other abilities I’d already lost by the time you gave me the chance to change sides.”  
“Why pretend you didn’t know the fae existed?”

“Because it was too painful to talk about,” Kay admitted, his voice edged with bitterness. “To talk about the world I used to live in, the creature I used to be? Honestly, I’m probably lucky I remain in a human form. As a cait sith, I could have ended up stuck in the form of a cat. That would have been quite a bit more limiting.”

Cassian regarded him over folded hands for several quiet minutes. “That would also explain your comment about your senses being dulled.” He chewed on his lower lip. “Do you know about Lady Organa then?”

“The fact that she’s fae, or at least part fae?” Kay nodded. “More to the point, I think she and her brother might be the heirs of the local Hall. I don’t know who became the Faerie Lord or Lady here after I was dragged into the mortal realms, but judging by the accidents and missing building materials, I would say that whoever they are, they do not like humans.”

It was Cassian’s turn to grimace. “It’s a bit worse than that.” With that, he launched into his description of the night before, and most of his discussion with Leia this morning, not counting the part about who her father was, but Kay already knew that she was fae and that was good enough for now.

Kay shook his head as Cassian finished. “You walked into a stone ring? That’s stupid, Cassian, and dangerous. If this Stardust had ill intentions towards you, you would have been in dire straits.” He frowned. “So this Stardust told you that the local Faerie Lord wanted to drive away, or kill if he could not drive away, the mortals who have resettled here, and that there were others among the fair folk who wanted to see this Lord dealt with?”

Cassian nodded. “That is the gist of it. Leia wants to wait until her brother arrives, and then arrange a meeting with Stardust. I have a feeling I could contact her at the same stone ring as before to set up a meeting, thought I’d probably have to do so at dusk or dawn.”

“Those would be the appropriate times to do so, yes.” Kay looked thoughtful. “However, if you entered the ring again, you’d still be at the mercy of whatever fae was there. Hopefully it would be Stardust, but if she were somehow found out…” He held up his hand when Cassian started to speak. “No, Cassian, I believe what this Stardust told you. It explains a lot of things, and as she is of Faerie, she can’t actually lie to you. Twist the truth and omit things, but not actually lie. That’s how I’ve managed to keep my secrets so long. But on something this serious, I do not believe she is looking to set you up, particularly of your instincts are telling you to trust her. However, I think it might be better if you sent me in your place to find Stardust and set up the meeting between her allies and Lady Organa and her brother.”

“Aren’t you as at risk as I am, being cut off from faerie for so long?” Cassian frowned. 

“I’m less likely to be trapped by another fae,” Kay replied calmly. “I had not considered that I might have another opportunity to return to Faerie, but since the Lord I served that forced me out of Faerie is gone, I should not have a great deal of trouble re-entering. I don’t really have any desire to return to any court, Cassian, but the village is my home and you are my friend. If I can do this to help protect my home and my friends, I would like to do so.”

“Leia’s going to want to know about all this,” Cassian warned him. 

“Then I will speak with her,” Kay said. “Perhaps later today, after she’s sent for her brother, and you can accompany me, if you so wish.”

Cassian tilted his head. “How would re-entering Faerie affect you, after being gone for so long?”

“I might start to regain some of my abilities,” Kay hazarded. “Though I do not know how fast or slow such abilities would return. Additionally, in order to maintain those abilities, I would have to maintain some kind of long-term contact with Faerie. Most fae who venture out into the mortal world and spend much time there either choose to remain completely within the mortal realms and lose their abilities, and sometimes their longevity, over time. Others though return to Faerie ever few weeks or months to maintain their contact with Faerie and thus their abilities. It happens sometimes, but it isn’t exactly that common. Most fae would want to visit the mortal realms long enough to observe humans, or maybe to, well, play with them, and then they would return to Faerie once they’ve had their amusement and not think much about the mortals they toyed with.” He gave Cassian an apologetic smile. “Some fae develop a deep connection with mortals and do care about the fates of mortals, but for others, mortals are just a blip in their lives, something for temporary amusement.”

Cassian smiled, a relieved one now. “Well, I am glad that you are the former, and not the latter.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kay meets Jyn for the first time, and a bargain is struck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @serstolas

Cassian wanted to argue with Kay when Kay insisted he travel to the stone ring to give Stardust an update, but in the end, he had to give into his friend’s wisdom. 

“We went over this once, my Captain,” Kay told Cassian. “Should the Faerie Lord discover that Stardust is speaking to you, there could be danger to both you and her. I won’t tell you the odds of the danger it would put us all in if the Faerie Lord happened upon you and Stardust meeting. While I’ve been away from Faerie for some time, it is still less risk of discovery for me to speak to her right now than you, at least until we can actual figure out a safe place for the two of you to meet other than the stone ring. The Lord might be a little suspicious of me, but I can always hide under the guise of being a faerie who managed to slip away while many of Palpatine’s forces were decimated by the mortals.”

“I hate it when you’re right about this kind of thing,” Cassian muttered as Kay prepared to leave the house just a bit before dusk, three nights after Cassian’s initial meeting with Stardust. They were still waiting on a summons from Organa Manor letting them know that Leia’s brother had arrived, but Cassian felt the need to give Stardust an update. He knew that time passed differently in Faerie from what Kay had told him, so he didn’t know how long it had been for Stardust, but something told him letting Stardust know he had spoken to Lady Organa was necessary.

“Kay, just be careful, alright? I’ve lost enough friends to the war; I don’t wish to lose another.”

“You won’t, Cassian,” Kay told him firmly. “I know a lot of stories of fae and humans getting mixed up together end poorly, but if Stardust was willing to reach out and take the risk to speak to you, that means there is a chance here. She wouldn’t have lured you to the stone ring to speak to you if she didn’t have some confidence that something could be done.”

Kay had Cassian’s concerns and a few other things rattling around in his head as he took the path from the village that lead towards the stone ring. It had been years since Kay had been in Faerie, and the thought of deliberately seeking out another fae after he’d spent so many years hiding under a human guise both elated and worried him. He missed his own magic and he missed Faerie itself. A part of his soul had withered while cut off from Faerie. If this Stardust was right and the Faerie Lord could be ousted and replaced by either Lady Organa or her brother, it opened up the possibility of an alliance between the local fae and the local mortals. 

So long as the local fae didn’t make too much of a fuss to gather the attention of the Faerie King and Queen, or they kept the mortals who actually entered Faerie to a minimum, then the King and Queen might be willing to ignore this small part of Faerie, might be willing to overlook it as an amusement for the local fae, so long as it did not put Faerie in general in danger.  
He wondered who this Stardust might be. When Lord Vader had refused to take his place as lord over the local Faerie Hall, he’d also forced a number of local fae to follow him to serve Palpatine. Most of those who had been left behind were those Lord Vader considered either too weak or too useless to be of help to him in serving Palpatine. Was Stardust one of those, or had she migrated to the area from another part of Faerie afterwards?

As he walked, he saw the stone ring in the distance. The question of who Stardust was would be answered soon enough.

~~~  
After her initial meeting with Jareth, Stardust had set careful, unobtrusive wards around the stone ring where she’d spoken to him, designed to alter her when he or anyone else entered the stone circle again. She knew it may be hours or days in faerie, and who knew how long in the mortal realm before he returned. She had no illusions about how quickly he could make his Lady Organa act on the information she’d imparted to him.

It was best to stay aware, but not draw to much attention to that particular portal to Faerie, lest it come to Krennic’s attention. So, she set the wards, and she waited.

She felt faint surprise when, three days in the mortal realm by her measure, the wards pinged, indicating that someone was entering the circle. The energy didn’t match that of Jareth, however. In fact…

It took more time than Jyn wanted to slip away to the stone circle. She’d recently taken up a habit of wandering the woods of Faerie, she just had to ensure she was going in one direction in case Krennic had her followed before she backtracked to the toadstool circle here in Faerie that connected to the stone circle in the mortal realms. She slipped through the veil cautiously since the energy on the mortal side didn’t fit with Jareth’s. Instead it felt very fae.

“You are not Jareth,” she greeted the lanky, black haired man that stood within the stone circle, her voice careful.

He regarded her with a pair of golden eyes that held a slightly perplexed expression. “And you are not completely fae.”

The silence stretched between them as the two individuals, the young woman who’d been trapped in Faerie since childhood, and the Faerie who had been exiled years ago from his home, sized each other up. 

Kay finally broke the silence. “I am going to hazard that you are Stardust. Jareth said you were a Faerie woman, and I suppose by mortal standards he isn’t wrong. You aren’t completely mortal, but you aren’t completely fae either.” He sighed. “Why do I have a feeling the odds of our success may have just changed?”

Jyn gave him an affronted look. “That’s saying something coming from a cait sith who hasn’t been to faerie in at least a decade.”

Kay pursed his lips as she snapped at him. She burned brightly, this one, and it could either be a spark that ignited their effort to bring the Faerie Lord down, or it could burn them all to cinders. “I did not leave Faerie willingly,” he replied evenly. “And from the fact that you reached out to Jareth to speak with Lady Organa, I would gather that your life in Faerie has not been completely willing either, yes?”

She eyed him for a several minutes before she unbent slightly. “No,” she conceded. “And I’ve heard about the fae who were forced to follow Lord Vader. So, I guess we have that in common.” She tilted her head. “You know Jareth, obviously, so why are you here in his stead?”

Kay remembered that his friend had chosen to trust this woman on an instinct, and how Cassian was rarely wrong. He was more naturally wary than Cassian because he was fae, but he hunched that Stardust wouldn’t have requested Cassian reach out to other mortals if she’d only wanted to play with him. “I think perhaps that the two of us should come to an agreement to lay out our own intentions before we continue with that conversation,” Kay replied firmly.

He could see the emotion swirling in Stardust’s blue green eyes. Cassian was mortal, and his instinct alone might lead him to trust Stardust, but if she was going to be dealing with Lady Organa and Lord Skywalker, she’d need to be a lot more convincing than just relying on Cassian’s instinct and trust.

“Alright,” Stardust replied at last. “I will tell you my intent, and you tell me yours, then we will discuss why you are here instead of Jareth, and what we want going forward, agreed?”

“Agreed.”

Stardust glanced back behind her a moment, checking to make sure that there was no one behind her in Faerie that might overhear. “When Lord Vader refused to take his place as Lord of the Faerie Hall, he left behind a void. When Lord Krennic took over that void, he brought my mother and father, and thus me, with him. I was still a toddler then. Later, when my father discovered what Lord Krennic was actually using his creations for, my parents rebelled against him. He killed my mother, and he may as well have killed my father too.” 

This history hurt to relive in any manner, but from how protective this cait sith was over Jareth, and knowing that Lady Organa was of faerie blood, Jyn realized she would have to convince these fae who had never lived under Krennic’s rule, these fae who had lived lives in the mortal realm and might not want to get mixed up in Krennic’s mess, of why they needed to. This cait sith who already had a tie and emotional connection to Jareth was the best place to start.

“So, I spent my childhood as Lord Krennic’s ‘ward’,” she spat out the last word. 

“In a gilded cage,” Kay replied, nodded. “You have a personal vendetta against Lord Krennic.”

“I do,” Stardust admitted, seeing no point in trying to twist that truth. “But he’s made life hell for those fae who disagree with him in the slightest. And after Palpatine was defeated, his grip tightened, because he doesn’t wish to lose his power. If he realizes that Lady Organa is descended from Lady Shmi and is the rightful ruler of this area of Faerie, he may act against her. He hates most mortals, he only tolerates those he finds of use to him, and you already know he’s trying to drive the mortals here away. If he finds out who Lady Organa is before she can act, it will get worse.”

Kay straightened, towering over the smaller faerie woman, but he did not loom. His stance, instead, suggested more standing up against something else, something, or someone, other than her. “The humans in this area are my friends. I came to know them during my time on their side during the war. Jareth gave me an escape from serving Lord Vader, and I took it. For that I owe him a great deal. But more than that, he is my friend. The mortals in the village, at the manor, they are my friends. I haven’t thought much about returning to Faerie, because I want to protect my friends.” He paused, “As to why I am here instead of Jareth, do you not think that you meeting with another faerie is less likely to cause an issue with Lord Krennic than meeting with a human?”

Jyn tilted her head. “I know Jareth isn’t his real name, but it works for our purposes. What do I call you, since you already call me Stardust?”

Kay’s lips twisted in an amused smile. “You may call me Tu.”

Jyn returned his smile with a wry if wary one of her own. “So where do we go from here, Tu? You know the mortals better than I do.”

“Lady Organa knows about your request,” Kay replied. “She’s waiting for her twin brother to arrive because she wants him to be a part of any talks.” He lifted a brow. “That works in our favor, I think. Both Lady Organa and her brother would have equal claim to the Faerie Hall. I will tell you that Lady Organa has a very strong attachment to the mortal realm and her manor and people there. But her brother is a bit more…mystical if you will. It might be to your favor to speak to them both. If one isn’t willing to spend time in Faerie, the other might be.”  
“What about you?” Jyn asked, her gaze suddenly intent. “You said you’ve chosen to live in the mortal realm. Would you consider coming back to Faerie?”

“Would you consider leaving Faerie?” Kay countered. When Stardust did not answer, he continued. “Right now, we are both wary of each other, but we have a shared goal. I think that is enough.”

She nodded slowly. “You’re right, that meeting with you, although still risky, will attract less ire from Lord Krennic than meeting with Jareth.” She eyed him. “You’ll tell him we spoke then, and come back here when Lady Organa and her brother are ready to meet?”

“Yes,” Kay agreed. “In the meantime, you and I can both scope out the best place for such a meeting to take place.” He offered his hand. “Agreed?”

Jyn met his gaze, then extended her palm and shook his. “Agreed.”

“I will see you again, then,” Kay replied, “Hopefully soon.” With that, he stepped out of the stone ring, of course having none of the difficulties with Stardust’s wards as Cassian had.

Jyn watched the cait sith disappear into the distance before she slipped back into Faerie. Tu’s story gave her enough that she could spin to Lord Krennic should he discover anything of this particular meeting, or future ones, but it also gave her a great deal more to ponder. 

Mind awhirl, Jyn slipped out of the toadstool ring on the Faerie side of things and wandered back into the forest.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke arrives and there's a discussion of their expectations and next move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Star Wars
> 
> Find me on tumblr @serstolas

Leia Organa, by all accounts, was an intelligence young woman skilled in the art of both diplomacy and war. She’d been trained in both the art of negotiation and in combat at the insistence of her adoptive father from a young age. She hadn’t known until after his and her mother’s untimely death that she’d been adopted, but she would always consider herself, and was considered by the survivors of Alderaan, to be an Organa, and the heir to the lands and rule of the area where the town of Alderaan had once existed. There were many who chose to resettle near the ruins of Alderaan who would tell you that they followed her not because of her name, but because of what she did. 

Even in the darkest hours of their war against the Empire, Leia Organa refused to give up hope. Together with her brother Luke Skywalker and her husband Han Solo, she had worked with the leadership of the Rebellion to take down the Emperor. Very few new of the true story of how Luke had killed the Emperor. Most believed that Luke had prevailed against the Emperor Palpatine and Lord Vader in combat. The truth that Leia knew, that in the end Lord Vader had turned against Palpatine and helped Luke defeat him would probably never be known by the public at large. Lord Vader’s name was still cursed by many, and association with him could put alliances and future work in danger.

Thus, while the fact that she’d been adopted and Luke was her brother was more common knowledge, the fact that Lord Vader had been their father was not. Neither she nor Luke could hide the fact that they had certain…abilities once that truth had got out and rumors of faerie blood had started. Faerie blood cropping up wasn’t as common now as it might have been even decades ago, but it wasn’t so strange that Luke or Leia denied that fact, they just merely kept the fact that Lord Vader was the source of that faerie blood a closely guarded secret.

When Cassian had come to her with the request from the Faerie woman, Stardust, a part of Leia worried, deeply, about what this might mean, and acknowledged to Han that she wanted no part of ruling any part of Faerie. She was busy enough with Organa Manor and the surrounding village and making sure her people were safe. She had accepted, however, that the Faerie Lord Stardust spoke of had to be dealt with if she was going to keep the mortal people who relied upon her and looked to her for rule safe. 

While Leia was naturally wary of dealing with the fae, she also knew that this Stardust wouldn’t have reached out to a mortal for something like this unless it was absolutely necessary. While most fae might pull a single mortal into their realm and use them as a pawn in a game against another faerie, this was something quite a bit bigger, and Stardust was actually requesting more than one mortal, more than a few mortals possibly, be involved.

When Cassian and Kay had visited and advised Leia additional contact with Stardust had been made, and she wasn’t pushing to meet before Leia’s brother arrived further told her that Stardust knew whatever was going on with this Faerie Lord was going to create a world of trouble, and she was looking for more than just Leia as an ally.

The fact that Kay was fae didn’t surprise her. She’d certainly suspected he was of faerie blood from his manner, but that he was a fae who’d spent years exiled from Faerie explained a bit more. 

When she’d given Luke the rundown of everything when he arrived last night, he’d given her a sigh of long suffering and said, “I guess we have to clean up more of Vader’s mess.”

That was how she discovered that while she’d been rebuilding around Alderaan, her brother had evidently spent the past several months trying to clean up remnants of Palpatine and Vader’s actions. There were still both human and fae followers that seemed intent on carrying out the dead Emperor’s reign of terror, despite their ruler being little more than ash now.

She’d summoned both Kay and Cassian to breakfast this morning to meet with Luke before they moved forward with setting up a meeting with Stardust. Leia intended to at least see that everyone have tea and food before they started the discussion, but as usual, her brother decided to just charge ahead right after everyone was seated and before Cassian had even managed a sip of tea.

“So, to put things in the most basic language, you and I are the heirs, through our sire, of the original Faerie Lady who ruled over this area before the current Faerie Lord. Our sire refusing to take up his position of Faerie Lord left a power vacuum, and he also forced most of the fae in this area that he found useful to follow him. As a result, the current Faerie Lord moved in, hasn’t caused enough trouble to make the Faerie King and Queen feel he needs to be brought in check, but has been terrorizing the lesser fae of the area and now that humans are back, are trying to drive them away so he can continue ruling unhindered, correct?” Luke directed towards Cassian as the former soldier tried to mix a small amount of cream into his tea.

Cassian, for all that he knew that Luke was a powerful wizard and of fae descent, met Luke’s somewhat impatient gaze squarely as he finished mixing sugar into his tea, took a sip, and set the cup down before speaking. “Yes. According to Stardust, the Faerie Lord hates humans unless he finds them amusing or useful to him personally, as in her father’s case, and will turn on them when they are no longer useful or amusing. That does not bode well for the mortal population around Organa Manor. There weren’t a lot of strong fae left in this area once Vader forced most of the local Hall to follow him after Palpatine, so Krennic’s basically been able to run ramshod over most of the fae around here because they’re either weaker, or he has some hold over them. Her decision to reach out isn’t out of the goodness of her heart, it’s for mutual benefit.”

“I’d be far more wary of the whole thing if she didn’t benefit somehow from it,” Luke replied. He gave Cassian a nod, perhaps indicating that he’d been perhaps a bit impatient before Luke applied himself to his toast, turning over the situation in his mind.

Cassian lifted his brows but said nothing as the rest of the table fixed their plates. Kay regarded Cassian before he addressed Luke and Leia. “Cassian and I have begun keeping a ledger of the incidents over the past several months. A few we were able to weed out as natural occurrences, but several others we found, mainly things disappearing and some accidents, remain unexplained. Most of the items that went missing at the beginning or minor items, a pot here, a few pieces of wood there, but it has gotten progressively more annoying, as the villagers have said. Necessary tools have vanished, gate locks on livestock paddocks have been destroyed or removed, that sort of thing. The accidents were minor to begin with, people ending up bumping their heads or minor scrapes, but there’s been at least two broken bones within the last month.”

“The Faerie Lord is slowly ramping up his campaign to scare the mortals from the area,” Luke nodded and glanced at Leia. “If he’s a threat to the village and the safety of those around here, then you’re right we have a duty to deal with him and remove the threat from your people. The question is, what happens afterwards?”

“You mean, what happens after the initial threat of the Faerie Lord has been dealt with?” Cassian asked.

Luke nodded. “One thing I’ve learned over the past several months with cleaning up Palpatine’s mess, just because you remove a tyrant doesn’t mean it magically fixes things and things go back to the way they were before.”

“True. My goal is to keep my people safe, by removing an existing threat, and ensuring there isn’t a future one.” Leia’s brow creased. “I’ve already begun making contacts with human lords and allies to ensure that Alderaan, or whatever we decide to name the new village, because I am not calling it Organa Village, has human allies, but we can’t just rid ourselves of one Faerie Lord and leave a another void, that’s what caused part of this trouble to begin with. Cassian’s Stardust mentioned that she knew I was the heir of the last Faerie Lady, which means Luke would be too, but I am not looking to rule a Faerie Hall.”

“Perhaps we should keep in mind that you and Luke both have some claim to the Faerie hall, but also consider there may be someone among the local fae who might make a decent Faerie Lord or Lady, and someone whom we could have an alliance with,” Cassian offered. “Stardust might have indicated she accepts you and Luke’s claim to the title, but not every local faerie might. Even if you or Luke were even considered it, you’d want the guidance of local faeries to help ease you into it, since at this point, you’re both outsiders.”

“So best to consider the possibility they may ask Leia or I, but we certainly don’t need to make any plans until we’ve actually met with Stardust and her allies, and see what it is they are looking for besides help with removing the local Lord,” Luke agreed.

“I estimate a high possibility they may approach one of you,” Kay input. “But I also estimate that even if everyone were in agreement that Lady Leia or Lord Luke were to rule the Faerie hall, they would be unable to do so without some guidance. I suggest that we arrange a meeting with Stardust and her allies in a safe location and go from there. We should keep in mind the long-term goal of some kind of alliance between faerie and mortal that will benefit both, while focusing on the main issue of removing the Lord first.” He regarded Luke and Leia, “How much do you tell the villagers is the question, or do you focus on just a few trusted souls to begin with and bring in others as necessary.”

“The villagers know that there are faeries around here, but most of them are at least a little fearful,” Han said. “I’ll talk to Chewy; I think we should bring him, and maybe Wedge, but not too many mortals, and Stardust should bring only a few she trusts as well for a first meeting. The less people, the less attention we attract.”

“The next question is where and when,” Leia nodded and looked to Kay. “Do you think between you and Stardust you could find a suitable place?”

Kay felt Cassian’s reassuring hand on his shoulder just for a moment, and Kay allowed himself to smile at Leia, glad that the revelation of him being fae hadn’t changed her trust in him. He’d fought hard for his place in the Rebellion.

“We can,” he replied. “There are certain areas that are warded against intrusion, due to the nature of the people who live there. I know of one such place and I would hazard that Stardust knows of it too. I will seek her out tonight, and we shall arrange a meeting.”

Cassian looked vaguely like he wanted to object. He still felt a pull, much like he had on that first evening, to see the Faerie woman again, a bone deep draw to her, but he knew for his safety, and hers, it was better to let Kay handle the arrangements for the moment. When Kay had mentioned that Stardust spoke of her father being forced to create weapons for the Faerie Lord, it had ticked at something in the back of his mind. Hopefully there would be time for further discussion with Stardust at the meeting.

His friends trusted him and trusted his instincts that the issue Stardust had brought to him needed to be dealt with, by all of them. Maybe it was because he saw a little of himself in Stardust after hearing more of her story, and that he saw a deep seated need in her to try and help rid the world, be it mortal of faerie, of one more danger, one more tyrant.

“Very well,” Leia’s words brought Cassian back to the present. “Kay, contact Stardust and arrange the meeting. We will await the results.”

Kay tipped his head. “I shall, Lady Organa.”


End file.
